3.3.15

Paphos Harbour | Visiting Cyprus

One place I really fell for during our holiday to Cyprus was Paphos Harbour. It was a simple (and cheap) bus trip from our hotel and also the place to travel to if we wanted to then get another bus to explore the island.
We went to the Harbour on our first full day. We had booked excursions on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday so decided to have a relaxed day of seeing what was around.
We walked along the promenade, somewhere I could have stayed for hours just watched the older local men fishing. I love getting a hint of local life and the fact that they were not at all bothered by people walking around them meant I was able to get some photos of them.
We really wanted to go on a boat trip but with it being Winter Season and the weather being a bit iffy we were limited (no swimsuit sunbathing on the front of a catamaran...which is probably a good thing) but we came across a Glass Bottom Boat and after speaking to the gentleman there we booked up.
He was British so the usual "where abouts are you from?" question came up. When we told him he asked if we knew Pakefield, which we do as it is super close and one of my favourite places to go. He told us that he built and owned/owns one of the chalets on the seafront. Such a small world.
We had an hour to spend before the boat trip started so with the words "FRAPPE" catching my eye at the first place we came to we stopped for a drink.
The boys all had ice cream, which I tried and it was AMAZING. The best ice cream we have ever tasted. The sun was shining and it really felt like we were on holiday, which was lovely.

The boat trip was interesting. I was absolutely fine. However, a few of the other people on the boat had seasickness and even my husband ended up feeling a bit yuk.
We saw a few fish through the glass bottom and even went over a ship wreck which was so fascinating. Yes....I may have pretended it was the Titanic.
Going back to the quayside Charles was invited to drive the boat along the coast. After being shy for a while I eventually gave him a push (literally) and the guy picked him up and sat him down. He didn't stop smiling. And did really well as the guy who was driving anyway stood back and said he could just have a rest now.

As we moored up we then went for lunch. I chose the Mousakka as it would be rude not to! Oh my, the proper local cooked stuff is SO much better than anything you pick up in the UK supermarket. It really puts our cooking to shame. No jars or thick tomato sauce hiding any other flavours. Just fresh ingredients, with herbs to enhance. Oh....just writing about it makes me want to go back!

I managed to get a tiny bit of browsing time in the shops with Charles whilst my husband and Harry sat by the quayside spotting fish. Charles bought some cute leather bracelets (which I really want to steal) and I made a mental list of things I would return to buy later on in the week.

With the weather being up and down we were able to see the Harbour when the sea was calm, the sky was blue and the sun was bright and then the following day when the sea was rough, the sky was grey and the sun was hidden behind the clouds.
And both times, it was beautiful.